Not Broken, Just Bent
by ridiculouslyoptimistic
Summary: Ally's having nightmares. Luckily, Austin's there for comfort.


I just had this song stuck in my head and you all know how much I like to write scenarios based on songs. So this is my interpretation of the relationship this song describes. Enjoy. :)

* * *

_"Anyone home?" she asks as she pushes open the front door, cradling the bag of groceries in the crook of her elbow._

_There's no response, so she removes the key from the lock and closes the door behind her before making her way to the kitchen, humming softly as she goes. She sets the paper bags down on the counter and begins to unpack them when she hears a soft grunt coming from somewhere inside the apartment. _

_Furrowing her brow in confusion, she pads down the hallway to the door of the bedroom she shares with her boyfriend of three years and carefully pushes it open. _

_"Austin? Are you home?" she calls as the door swings open. _

_The noises stop and her jaw drops, her eyes wide with horror at the sight. She attempts to scream, but no sound escapes her lips._

_..._

Ally awakens with a gasp, sitting straight up, her fingers tightly clenching the silk sheets as she pants heavily. Turning, she sees him sleeping soundly, his chest rising and falling as soft snores escape his lips.

Pressing her lips together, she inhales deeply through her nose to slow her heart rate before throwing back the covers and slowly swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Careful not to disturb the Austin, she pads towards the door, opening it slowly and slipping into the hallway before closing just as quietly behind her and walking towards the kitchen.

She flips on the light, blinking to adjust her eyes before opening the closest cupboard and removing a glass for water.

The cool liquid traveling down her throat eases her nerves and after finishing the glass, she leans over the countertop, resting her chin in her palm and wondering why she's still having these dreams.

She's being paranoid, she knows it; and it's starting to affect her relationship with Austin. But she can't help it. They just keep coming.

When she first met Austin, she'd never been so dazzled by a person in her life. He was charming and flirtatious, sure, but he listened to her and he understood her and over time he became the only person in the world with whom she felt completely at home.

He never judged her for her past or became annoyed by her insecurities. He loved her wholly and completely; a feeling she'd never before experienced.

Over time, she'd learned to open up to him, learned to ask for help. It seemed his kisses and his hugs and his simple touches worked wonders in the healing process, and pretty soon, she felt whole again.

That was until the dreams began. Every time is more intense than the last. Every time, she's a few seconds closer to visualizing her worst nightmare and feeling her heart break all over again.

Deep down, she thinks they started because Austin talks in his sleep. For the past few weeks, he's been muttering things under his breath and when she tries to make sense of them, all she hears is a name. A name that's not hers.

Katie.

She doesn't know what it means. She doesn't know that it means anything, but she can't stop her imagination from running wild.

Maybe she's the barista at the coffee shop Austin goes to every morning on his way into the studio. Maybe she's a new artist he's been working with. Maybe she's a relative that he's been meaning to call.

There are plenty of innocent explanations, but the one her mind keeps going to only causes her heart to ache.

It's probably her fault. She's pushed him into the arms of another woman. All of her neurosis finally annoyed him to the point where he needed consolation from someone else.

If he's true, she just wishes he wasn't so secretive about it. She'd much rather he be upfront and just say he's had enough than string her along. Sighing, she refills her water glass as she wonders how they could go from having everything, to this.

…

Austin wakes to an empty bed. Furrowing his brow in confusion, he blinks a couple times as he sits up and wipes his eyes.

Ally must have had another bad dream. They're becoming more frequent.

It scares him sometimes. He can't count the instances in the past few weeks where he's woken in the middle of the night to find her trembling and talking to herself. He doesn't understand why this is happening. All he knows is that he hates seeing her so afraid and he would do anything to make whatever pain she's feeling go away.

They came out of nowhere, really. The dreams. One night she just started tossing and turning in her sleep and he spent the next few weeks wondering if he had done something wrong. As far as he knows, their relationship has been perfect thus far.

He can still remember the first time he saw her, thinking that there was no way his life was ever going to be the same. She took his breath away without even trying, a feat no woman had previously been able to accomplish.

She was damaged when they met: guarded and skittish and completely cynical. Slowly but surely, he'd been able to pry open that shell and expose her beautiful inner workings. Not a day goes by that he isn't thankful that he stuck around.

A life without Ally Dawson wouldn't be much of a life at all.

Sighing, he pushes back the covers and crawls out of bed, figuring she probably went to clear her head. He finds her in the kitchen, leaning on the counter and staring thoughtfully out the window above the sink.

"Hey, Alls," he says softly, not wanting to startle her. "What's going on?"

She blinks slowly as she turns to face him, pushing away her empty glass. Her expression is blank as she whispers her response.

"What happened to us?"

He furrows his brow in confusion as he steps forward slowly. "What do you mean?"

She crosses her arms over her chest, running her palms up and down her upper arms as she shivers lightly. "We had everything, Austin. And look at us now."

"What's wrong with how we are now?" he asks, coming to a stop right in front of her.

"We're so broken," she breathes, "I don't know how that happened."

He parts his lips to deny her statement, but she cuts him off.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asks, her eyes wide with worry. "I'm sorry if I did. I know I can be impatient and not very understanding and kind of a control freak. I know it drives you crazy."

He has no idea what she's talking about, but it breaks his heart to see her spinning her wheels so helplessly, so he takes another step forward and cups her cheeks between his palms to keep her from interrupting again.

"Ally," he says softly but firmly, staring straight into her eyes. The eyes that he completely drowned in the first time they met. The eyes he dreamt about every night until they met the second time. "Baby, nothing is wrong. I'm not upset with you. I love all of your quirks."

She hiccups, her breathing staggering. "You do?"

Part of her thinks his words are just clever ploys to ease her mind, but there's a sincerity in his eyes that has to be real, so she breathes deeply and nods slowly as he mimics her actions.

"Of course," he responds, a slow smile stretching his lips. "I love everything about you."

"You don't have to say that."

He shakes his head. "I wouldn't if it wasn't true."

Funnily enough, it actually was true. Everything about her that should drive him insane only made her more endearing. And he missed her need for perfection and her ridiculous plans and lists while he was away.

"It's just these dreams…" she trails off, unable to look him in the eye.

"What are they about?" he asks. They've never actually discussed the content before, mostly because he assumes she tells him things that are important. But the dreams have been ongoing and increasingly more intense, so perhaps it is time they are talked about openly.

"They're all the same," she whispers, her fingers curling around the edge of the countertop as she stares blankly down at her hands, her voice shaking. "I come home and I think you're not here and then I hear noises and I go to the bedroom and I see…"

Eyes wide, he fills in the blank for himself because he knows she won't be able to continue. "You're having dreams about me cheating on you?"

The words are hard for him to say and when she looks into his eyes, her gaze is watery, her bottom lip trembling as she holds back tears. He can practically feel his heart shattering into a million pieces as he reaches out for her hand.

She pulls away before they touch and he furrows his brow in confusion at her sudden anger.

"Ally, baby, you know I would never cheat on you, right?" he asks, eyes worried.

He expects her to nod in agreement, but instead her eyes light on fire and she presses her lips into a thin line as she raises her chin defiantly.

"Then who's Katie?"

He's even more confused. Racking his brain for anyone he knows named Katie, he comes up short and shakes his head.

"I don't…"

She cuts him off before he can finish, keeping her gaze straight, thought slightly wavering. "I hear you say her name in your sleep, Austin. Don't lie to me."

It takes him a moment pondering her accusation before he comes to realize what she's talking about. A wide grin spreads across his face, which utterly confuses her as he shakes his head.

"I'm not cheating on you with a girl named Katie," he laughs, "Katie is what the artist I'm working with wants to call his new song. You're probably hearing me say it a lot because I've been trying to figure out whether or not that's a good idea."

She blinks at his explanation, processing his words before she speaks again. "So there's no girl named Katie?"

Laughing, he shakes his head. Stepping forward, he grabs her hand and this time she doesn't pull away. He laces their fingers together and pulls her closer to his chest, grabbing her other hand and doing the same before looking deep into her eyes.

"Ally, you're the only girl in my life," he says, holding her gaze and making sure she absorbs every word. "You're the only girl I'll ever need."

She exhales softly, leaning her forehead against his. "I'm sorry, Austin. I must have sounded paranoid and crazy."

At first he means to forgive her instantly, but he decides it's finally time to address her trust issues. Squeezing her hand, he uses their intertwined fingers to lift her chin so their gazes meet once more.

"I'm not him," he says firmly, "I would never betray you like that. I'm not saying that our relationship is always going to be perfect, but I will do everything in my power to make sure I never break your heart, alright? I love you and that's not going to change."

She sniffles, nodding slightly as she whispers a response. "I know."

"Good," he replies, releasing her fingers and wrapping his arms around her shoulders to pull her into an embrace.

She melts into his arms, burying her face into his chest and breathing in his comforting scent as he presses tender kisses to the top of her head. As they stand in silence, swaying lightly to nonexistent music, she wonders why she ever doubted Austin in the first place.

A few months after they began dating, she'd told him why it was that she seemed so guarded. Two weeks before her wedding, she'd walked in on her ex-fiancé having intimate relations with his best man's sister.

The incident had scarred her completely. She spent the next two years wondering if perhaps she could have kept it from happening if she had done something different. It took Austin several months to convince her that she was not the reason her ex cheated. And ever since she'd come to accept that fact, she hadn't looked back, hadn't doubted Austin for a minute.

To his credit, he'd never given her a reason. He never stayed out late without telling her or took suspicious phone calls or even looked at other women. It was almost unnatural, really, but he'd only ever made her feel utterly safe and loved.

Until now, when all of her insecurities had come swirling back for no apparent reason.

"I'm sorry, Austin," she says into his bare chest, relishing in the warmth of his skin. "I trust you."

"Yeah?" he asks, leaning back slightly and lifting one side of his mouth into a half smile.

She crinkles her nose in response, smiles, and nods. "Yeah. And I think I'm kind of in love with you."

His smile turns into a full-fledged grin, because no matter how many times he hears those words, they never fail to make his heart sing. He takes a moment to appreciate her appearance. He likes her best like this: in a simple tank top and shorts, her hair mussed, but her eyes bright. She's stunning beyond belief and for the millionth time since they began dating, he wonders how he got so lucky.

Her lips stretch into a slow smile as she rises to her toes and presses a soft kiss on his lips. He smiles against her mouth, locking his fingers together at the base of her spine and attempting to memorize the feel of her body.

She loves the way his lips feel on top of hers; the way they caress her and make her feel as though no one else in the world exists. Sighing, she wraps her arms around his neck and tangles her fingers into his hair, smiling slightly when he moans contently against her mouth.

She loves that all of their arguments always end like this: with them entirely wrapped up in each other. It's because they were never broken to begin with, she decides. And as long as she has any say, they never will be.


End file.
